When Chang writes that the film is so eager to bare its soul, I agree. In fact, it’s part of the appeal. It’s the same kind of appeal that drew me to emo music: a desire to state, simply and bluntly, how bad it feels without the self-conscious desire to dress it up as something poetic and literary. Sometimes a singer yelling “I’m not okay” to loud power chords is the most thrilling musical moment of a generation.
The top 20 songs from the year 2021 that did the most for me. Featuring Rostam, TORRES, Kings of Convenience, CHVRCHES, Tyler the Creator, Deafheaven and more.
The top 20 songs from the year 2019 that stuck with me all the way to the end. Featuring Remi Wolf, Car Seat Headrest, Bright Eyes, Lauren Auder, Empress Of and more.
I can intellectually understand that the Presidency of the United States is not the most impactful seat of power. It cannot unilaterally patch the holes in our social safety net, it cannot singlehandedly curb carbon emissions and will never be able to abstain from exporting violence overseas. Yet, it holds tremendous psychological power — there is no single political office that tints the way I see the future more than the Presidency.
One early morning I happened to see a dog named Snoop on Petfinder. I went to his shelter’s Instagram, and saw that they were holding their first in-person adoption event on the same morning. On a whim, half awake, we decided to amble out to the car and drive to Rowland Heights to see this dog in person. A couple of hours later we came home with a dog.
My journey through living in Los Angeles proper has always been marked by inconvenient situations growing incrementally more convenient over time.
I never learned how to ride a bike as a child. I’ve always carried this like a minor dark secret: a basic rite of passage for children across the world had eluded me. In my mind, I was a person that learned to crawl, walk, run, and then skipped straight to driving a car.
One of my quarantine projects is to rewatch The Wire with my partner, who has never seen more than a handful of episodes. It’s my second time going through the series, and while its still a high quality and riveting television show, my understanding of its politics have deepened. While I don’t have a disdain for the show or what it’s trying to say, the last five years have made the show’s politics seem lacking. Nothing makes me roll my eyes or feels particularly dated — but the parts about the politics of policing that have interested me the most seem barely elaborated on in five seasons of The Wire.
When I heard he was taking over Letterman’s chair and starting up The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , I was cautiously optimistic. He was clearly a top tier comedic talent that deserved to have a big stage, bigger than bringing up the rear after The Daily Show. But I wasn’t sure how his comedy would translate to, for the first time, just really being himself.
And, look, Jordan wasn’t wrong; it would be impossible to argue against his methods considering all the championships he has to show for it. But the mythologies of Michael Jordan (and Kobe Bryant’s trademark Mamba Mentality) are enforcing the false narrative that being a cut throat hard-ass is the only way to win — in sports, in business, in life.
